This document is valid for Version 0.7 of Cobub Razor.
Here lists the most common terms and their definitions in Cobub Razor – Open Source Mobile Analytics, check the following for details:
NOTE: it’s possible that there are different definitions in other mobile analytics system (like Flurry Analytics or Google Analytics for Mobile). If you are using other systems, please check the related documents of the product.
A New User is a user who has just installed and started using your Mobile App other than a user who installed the App only. Users are identified by unique device IDs (which is defined at different platforms: Android, iOS, Windows Phone). The number of “New Users” is a very important sign of growth of users. If the figure of “New Users/Downloads” is small in a specific distribution channel, that normally means that Mobile App distribution channel is providing a poor quality of delivery. In most cases, “Activation of Mobile App” equals “New Users” in Mobile Analytics.
In most cases “Active Users” is synonyms of “Active Users Daily” in App Analytics. An Active User is defined as a user who started the App at least ONCE in a specified period. If the period is longer than one day, and a user started the App several times in this period, the user will be counted as ONE “Active User”. The processing of remove multiple counting is called “De-duplicate”, which is based on unique device ID. The number of Active Users shows how the users stick to the App. Normally, if the figure is higher, the users are more likely to use the App.
This term is defined as the Percentage of New Users in Active Users(a New User is also an Active User, refer to Active Users). This figure is less than 100%; the very low value may means a bad result in App promotion. There are also “De-duplicated” process when calculating “New Users”.
A Session is one usage of the App by the end user. The usage begins at the App launching and ends when the App is terminated. Note that the definition of Session is NOT related to how many pages are visited in the App or how long the App is activated. A higher Session number means a higher frequency of App using. Average Frequency of Use = Session / Active Users.
An Upgrade User is who upgraded the Mobile App from an older version to a new version.
Average Usage Duration is the average length of time of the Session. The Session length is defined simply as the time difference between 2 events: the starting of Mobile App and the ending. This figure shows how many time the users spend on the Mobile App.
In App Analytics, this time difference may vary at different Mobile OS platform; for example, after the user press “Home” button, the Android and iOS handle the App process in different ways, which leading to different calculation at Android and iOS SDK.
This figure shows the number of ALL users who have ever started the App until the specified time, which also is the sum of New User. Accumulated Users is important characterization of the App users, but it cannot stands for the Active Users in a certain time period.
Lost Users = Accumulated Users – Active Users
Accumulated Sessions is the total times of the Mobile App has been launched by end users (all users). Every Session of the same user will be counted. In Mobile Analytics, “Accumulated Users” can be interpreted similar to the “Page View” in Web Analytics; and “Active Users” is similar to “Unique Visitor” (or “Unique IP”).
Active Users Weekly is the number of Active Users who had launched the App from last Sunday to Saturday. If a user started the App several times in this week, he will be counted as ONE “Active Users Weekly”. We are using the same logic to calculate “Active Users Daily” & “Active Users Weekly”; the difference only exists on time frame.
From the marketing aspects of mobile apps, in general, “Active Users Daily” is more important than “Active Users Weekly”.
Bounce Rate(%) is the proportion of Sessions which quite the App from current page(e.g. the user pressed “Home” button) comare to the total Sessions. The Analytics of Bounce Rate could help to monitor and improve users’ experience and prevent user loss.
Active Users Monthly is the number of users who have ever launched the App in last month. Refer to the definition of Active Users Weekly.
Which is defined as: number of active users in a week (Sunday to Saturday) divided Accumulated Users. This figure shows how active the Mobile App is during the week. The higher the better.
Which is defined as: number of active users in a month (1st day to the last day of the calendar month) divided but Accumulated Users. This figure shows how active the Mobile App is during the month. The higher the better.
Page View(%) is the total times of current page view (Page View of current page / Page View of all pages). Based this figure, you could do targeted marketing actions in you App, run advertising etc. Cobub Razor SDK uses different methods to track Page View at different mobile OS (Android, iOS and Windows Phone). For more detail, please refer to the Developer Guide of platforms.
User Retention is a measure of how many New Users are still using the App after a certain period of time. Correspondingly, there’s figure of “User Loss”. User Retention + User Loss = 1. User Retention is a significant character for the Mobile App Marketing which shows the life cycle of mobile app and the effective of distribution channels.